Plugged In

Monster game ‘Rampage’ to become monster movie

New Line Pictures has announced that it plans to make a cinematic adaptation of Rampage, the 1980s arcade game that centered entirely around three giant monsters with a penchant for demolishing buildings, punching tanks, and eating people, food, and toilets.

The film's still in pre-production, so don't start lining up at your local theater just yet. John Rickard, who co-produced 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' and 'Horrible Bosses' for New Line, will oversee the adaptation and is currently meeting with writers to come up with what we can only hope is a slightly deeper story than the one found in the original game.

The studio says it hopes to use special effects to create a monster movie that strikes a tone similar to 'Ghostbusters' and 'Independence Day'.

New Line is an obvious choice to head the project. Warner Bros. (which owns New Line) acquired Rampage in 2009 when it bought out the Midway Games catalog. And while no new Rampage games have come out since then, it's a safe bet there will be a gaming tie-in when the film finally lands.

Hollywood has been on a gaming kick of late. In September, Lions Gate acquired the rights to Dead Island, based almost entirely on that game's amazing, emotional trailer. And New Line is also bringing Mortal Kombat back to the big screen after a 14-year absence due to the overwhelming reaction to a YouTube series produced by a fan of the game.

Other game-based films in the works include Mass Effect, BioShock and World of Warcraft, with Sam Raimi attached to direct. Activision is also said to be shopping its Call of Duty franchise, though no deals have been formally announced.

Of course, there are some real headscratchers in development as well, like planned big-screen versions of the arcade classics Asteroids, Space Invaders and Missile Command.